Ink jet printing is a non-impact method for producing images by the deposition of ink droplets on a substrate (paper, transparent film, fabric, etc.) in response to digital signals. Ink jet printers have found broad applications across markets ranging from industrial labeling to short run printing to desktop document and pictorial imaging. To generate full color prints via ink jet printing, ink sets comprising at least cyan, magenta and yellow inks are normally utilized. In addition, a black ink is often added to enhance the printing of text and darker colors. The range of colors that can be produced with a given set of inks defines the color gamut of that ink set. For the production of high quality photorealistic images via ink jet printing, ink sets with a large color gamut are preferred. The inks used in ink jet printers are generally classified as either dye-based or pigment-based.
A dye is a colorant which is molecularly dispersed or solvated by a carrier. The carrier can be a liquid or a solid at room temperature. A commonly used carrier is water or a mixture of water and organic co-solvents. Each individual dye molecule is surrounded by molecules of the carrier medium. In dye-based inks, no particles are observable under the microscope. Although there have been many recent advances in the art of dye-based ink jet inks, such inks still suffer from deficiencies such as low optical densities on plain paper and poor light-fastness on ink jet porous glossy receivers. In pigment-based inks, the colorant exists as discrete particles. These pigment particles may be self-dispersed or treated with addenda known as dispersants or stabilizers, which serve to keep the pigment particles from agglomerating and settling out of the carrier. Milling process is often utilized to obtain pigment particles of desirable size, from 10 nm to 200 nm for inkjet ink application. Water-based pigmented inks are prepared by incorporating the pigment in the continuous water phase by a milling and dispersing process. Pigmented inks require a water-soluble dispersant in the pigment slurry during the milling process. Such a dispersant is necessary to produce a colloidally stable mixture and ink that can be “jetted” reliably without clogging the print head nozzles. The dispersant may be polymeric or non-polymeric to perform the function. Such a polymeric dispersant may be a block polymer or a random polymer.
Pigment-based inks in general have better image stability such as light fastness as compared to dye-based inks. However, when the pigment-based inks are printed on recording elements having glossy surfaces, the inks on the imaged areas tend to stay on the surface of the receiver. Due to the poor dry and wet adhesion properties between pigment particles and receiver surface, images generated by printing pigment-based inks on glossy receivers can be easily smudged. These scratch marks and smudges are more visible for receivers of high gloss levels.
To provide an image produced by pigmented ink with rub and smudge resistance on glossy receivers, polymer additives are often used. However, when a high level of polymer is used in pigmented ink to get satisfactory print durability, print defects in highly inked area are observed. The defects result from the slow absorption of inks by the receiver, therefore inks flow in the direction of receiver surface, producing density fluctuations. A common solution to this problem is to slow down printing speed or lower the level of polymer used in ink. These solutions either compromise productivity or print durability.
It is an object of this invention to provide an ink jet ink that allows high speed printing of pigmented inks to produce images having rub and smudge resistance on glossy receivers without any undesirable image defects.